23andMe results - brain fog

[seeker42]

I recently got my 23andMe test results back and I was wondering if anyone might have any insights about them. I've been experiencing heavy brain fog for a few years now. It has its ups and downs but can get quite bad sometimes. Here are the results along with several other recent tests I've had just in case that might help:

23andMe results (through Genetic Genie):
COMT V158M rs4680 GG -/-
COMT H62H rs4633 CC -/-
COMT P199P rs769224 GG -/-
VDR Bsm rs1544410 CT +/-
VDR Taq rs731236 AG +/-
MAO-A R297R rs6323 TT +/+
ACAT1-02 rs3741049 GG -/-
MTHFR C677T rs1801133 AG +/-
MTHFR 03 P39P rs2066470 GG -/-
MTHFR A1298C rs1801131 TT -/-
MTR A2756G rs1805087 AA -/-
MTRR A66G rs1801394 GG +/+
MTRR H595Y rs10380 __ no call
MTRR K350A rs162036 AA -/-
MTRR R415T rs2287780 __ no call
MTRR A664A rs1802059 AG +/-
BHMT-02 rs567754 TT +/+
BHMT-04 rs617219 __ no call
BHMT-08 rs651852 TT +/+
AHCY-01 rs819147 TT -/-
AHCY-02 rs819134 __ no call
AHCY-19 rs819171 TT -/-
CBS C699T rs234706 AA +/+
CBS A360A rs1801181 GG -/-
CBS N212N rs2298758 __ no call
SHMT1 C1420T rs1979277 __ no call

Heterozygous:
MTHFR C677T
VDR Bsm
VDR Taq
MTRR A664A

Homozygous:
MAO-A R297R
MTRR A66G
BHMT-02
BHMT-08
CBS C699T

A recent blood test showed the following:
- Excessive folic acid (>24)
- High Anti Thyroid Antibodies ab (61)
- High T3, Reverse (21)
- Mid/low B12 (427)
- Always have very low cholesterol
- Lyme negative
- WBC on the low side (4.73)
- Homocysteine serum on the high side (11.1)
- Low Creatinine (.88)
- High BASOS (2.3)
- Low Vitamin D (20.8)

Urine toxicity test:
- Low Molybednum

Cortisol saliva test:
- 3-5pm result was much higher than normal (.67)

Stool test:
- elevated phospholipid excretion (decreased absorption)
- Fecal fat total and Long Chain Fatty Acids also nearly out of reference range (elevated excretion)
- blood in stool
- No growth (lack of) Lactobacillus species bacteria

 

[Sherpa]

I have heard that the cause of brain fog is sometimes - but not always - leaky gut. Things can leaky into the blod that shouldn't be there, cause all kinds of inflammation reactions that lower congnition.

You have the MTRR A66G +/+ mutation which has a tendency to burn B12 really fast. That plus the lower lab range suggets you might be helped by supplemental Vitamin B12. Enzymatic Therapy B12 infusion is good - Seeking Health's is sugar free, more potent, both active forms of B12 and expensive http://www.seekinghealth.com/active-b12-lozenges.html

Your MAO A homozygous mutation requires B2 (riboflavin) to work well. If there is any question you didn't get enough from diet (junk diet, vegan diet, vegeterian, dairy free) you might consider supplemeting B2

 

[seeker42]

Thank you, Sherpa. I have tried various B vitamins before I had this test, and in fact my naturopath put me on a multi-V with a focus on B vitamins in the forms I am supposed to be able to handle but it ended up making me really fogged after a day or 2. I decided to drop them after only going on them for a week.

Unfortunately, I do that pretty often, start a supplement, feel worse and then stop before knowing if I kept it up if it would actually help. I have suspected some leaky gut issues as has my naturopath so I am definitely interested into looking into that more. As far as I have heard it's important to find ways to support the good bacteria to help heal that.

 

[skiesareclearing]

I recently got my 23andMe test results back and I was wondering if anyone might have any insights about them. I've been experiencing heavy brain fog for a few years now. It has its ups and downs but can get quite bad sometimes. Here are the results along with several other recent tests I've had just in case that might help:

23andMe results (through Genetic Genie):
COMT V158M rs4680 GG -/-
COMT H62H rs4633 CC -/-
COMT P199P rs769224 GG -/-
VDR Bsm rs1544410 CT +/-
VDR Taq rs731236 AG +/-
MAO-A R297R rs6323 TT +/+
ACAT1-02 rs3741049 GG -/-
MTHFR C677T rs1801133 AG +/-
MTHFR 03 P39P rs2066470 GG -/-
MTHFR A1298C rs1801131 TT -/-
MTR A2756G rs1805087 AA -/-
MTRR A66G rs1801394 GG +/+
MTRR H595Y rs10380 __ no call
MTRR K350A rs162036 AA -/-
MTRR R415T rs2287780 __ no call
MTRR A664A rs1802059 AG +/-
BHMT-02 rs567754 TT +/+
BHMT-04 rs617219 __ no call
BHMT-08 rs651852 TT +/+
AHCY-01 rs819147 TT -/-
AHCY-02 rs819134 __ no call
AHCY-19 rs819171 TT -/-
CBS C699T rs234706 AA +/+
CBS A360A rs1801181 GG -/-
CBS N212N rs2298758 __ no call
SHMT1 C1420T rs1979277 __ no call

Heterozygous:
MTHFR C677T
VDR Bsm
VDR Taq
MTRR A664A

Homozygous:
MAO-A R297R
MTRR A66G
BHMT-02
BHMT-08
CBS C699T

A recent blood test showed the following:
- Excessive folic acid (>24)
- High Anti Thyroid Antibodies ab (61)
- High T3, Reverse (21)
- Mid/low B12 (427)
- Always have very low cholesterol
- Lyme negative
- WBC on the low side (4.73)
- Homocysteine serum on the high side (11.1)
- Low Creatinine (.88)
- High BASOS (2.3)
- Low Vitamin D (20.8)

Urine toxicity test:
- Low Molybednum

Cortisol saliva test:
- 3-5pm result was much higher than normal (.67)

Stool test:
- elevated phospholipid excretion (decreased absorption)
- Fecal fat total and Long Chain Fatty Acids also nearly out of reference range (elevated excretion)
- blood in stool
- No growth (lack of) Lactobacillus species bacteria

@seeker42 Hi-- I'm just piping up to say that my doctor has wanted me to get this test and my understanding is that he is then going to send it off for interpretation elsewhere. I don't think we're meant to figure it out ourselves. I forget what he wanted me to do it for, but I haven't done it because I'm so fed up with tests-- and everything. But I've seen some things since I joined PR the other day that make me want to do it.
Going to put on my doctor whites now. Your thyroid is off, you have autoimmune thyroiditis. Have you see someone for getting onto thyroid replacement? That's very important.
If the Lyme test you took was a simple test for Lyme antibodies, it's not sufficient to judge whether you have Lyme or one of the co-infections. Can you find a Lyme-literate doctor? I forget the name of the tests I did; also it was some years ago. But my Lyme antibody tests years before that was negative too, and guess what? I have Lyme.
Also you can see your gut flora are off-- no lactobacillus. A good probiotic will help. But you also may want to test for other things that could be causing this, such as Candida overgrowth.
The vitamin D is a pretty easy fix. You need D3 and you can buy it online or wherever in liquid form. But you would want to be guided, I should think, by a doctor who knows this stuff--
I hope this helps a bit.

 

[seeker42]

@skiesareclearing thanks for your response. The 23andme results are definitely jibberish unless you process them with places like Genetic Genie, although I'm sure there are other places as well.

I definitely want to look into my thyroid more as I think that could be an issue. I will have to look more into lyme as well but I have had that blood test done at least 3 times with no positive results so far. I believe my gut is definitely a big part of the equation because probiotics seem to set off a lot of fog, although the one I'm on now (Dr. Ohhira) seems not to flare it up too much.

I recently tried 2 different supplements for my anxiety and negative obsessive thinking. I heard GABA can be beneficial so I tried that for 4 days and ended up feeling slightly less OCD but much more fogged. About a week later I tried 2 days of Inositol (about 1.2 g each day) because I have read it really helps with OCD. I am now very concerned because it increased my brain fog quite immensely on day 2 at which point I went off of it. It has been almost 5 days since I stopped it and my fog is still at much higher levels than before. I am worried it crossed into my brain in has had some very bad effects but the safety of that supplement is supposed to be relatively high so it surprised me. I really don't know what's going on but I feel a level of mental blankness that I had not really before. Could either of these supplements have interacted with any of the possible causes like candida, thyroid, lyme, heavy metals (this is a big concern), etc?

I'm just trying to stay calm and see if it will pass but now that it's been 5 days I don't know what to do.

 

[skiesareclearing]

@skiesareclearing thanks for your response. The 23andme results are definitely jibberish unless you process them with places like Genetic Genie, although I'm sure there are other places as well.

I definitely want to look into my thyroid more as I think that could be an issue. I will have to look more into lyme as well but I have had that blood test done at least 3 times with no positive results so far. I believe my gut is definitely a big part of the equation because probiotics seem to set off a lot of fog, although the one I'm on now (Dr. Ohhira) seems not to flare it up too much.

I recently tried 2 different supplements for my anxiety and negative obsessive thinking. I heard GABA can be beneficial so I tried that for 4 days and ended up feeling slightly less OCD but much more fogged. About a week later I tried 2 days of Inositol (about 1.2 g each day) because I have read it really helps with OCD. I am now very concerned because it increased my brain fog quite immensely on day 2 at which point I went off of it. It has been almost 5 days since I stopped it and my fog is still at much higher levels than before. I am worried it crossed into my brain in has had some very bad effects but the safety of that supplement is supposed to be relatively high so it surprised me. I really don't know what's going on but I feel a level of mental blankness that I had not really before. Could either of these supplements have interacted with any of the possible causes like candida, thyroid, lyme, heavy metals (this is a big concern), etc?

I'm just trying to stay calm and see if it will pass but now that it's been 5 days I don't know what to do.

@seeker42 Of course I really can't say, but I do think inositol is pretty benign. It's so complicated, isn't it? I can rarely tell what causes what. But inositol would not interfere with your thyroid or with Lyme, and I don't think it would affect your heavy metal load either. I also don't think it would increase Candida overgrowth (by the way, I have all 4 of these things too, but not OCD, although I have anxiety up the kazoo). GABA is trickier. I don't think I'd take it without testing first. ... You really do have a thyroid issue, because you have elevated Reverse T3. Do you have a doctor who is knowledgeable about thyroid?
So how are you feeling today? Is that blankness clearing out? I hope you're doing better. The fact that you still have that increased fog many days after stopping inositol makes me think it's something else that caused it. That's possible, isn't it?

 

[seeker42]

@skiesareclearing I agree it is definitely so tricky. I can never tell if what I'm taking is doing me any good and often times I add a supplement and it just exacerbates my symptoms. That's why I seem to always fall back on just taking this one probiotic.

You mentioned testing for GABA first, what kind of tests are you referring to? I definitely need to look into my thyroid more, I'll have to find a doctor who specializes in that.

The last couple days I felt relatively good compared to the days after stopping the inositol. It was the holidays so I managed to have a good time around family. Of course today, for whatever reason, seems to have brought back a lot of the extreme fog. It's definitely possible that it's not the inositol, maybe the GABA supplement is having a lingering effect, or maybe my diet has been thrown off, although I haven't changed it that much either.

 

[skiesareclearing]

@skiesareclearing I agree it is definitely so tricky. I can never tell if what I'm taking is doing me any good and often times I add a supplement and it just exacerbates my symptoms. That's why I seem to always fall back on just taking this one probiotic.

You mentioned testing for GABA first, what kind of tests are you referring to? I definitely need to look into my thyroid more, I'll have to find a doctor who specializes in that.

The last couple days I felt relatively good compared to the days after stopping the inositol. It was the holidays so I managed to have a good time around family. Of course today, for whatever reason, seems to have brought back a lot of the extreme fog. It's definitely possible that it's not the inositol, maybe the GABA supplement is having a lingering effect, or maybe my diet has been thrown off, although I haven't changed it that much either.

@seeker42 About GABA--there are neurotransmitter tests that can tell you about your serotonin levels, dopamine, etc. GABA's related. I can't remember the name of the lab, but there are home kits for it. You get the kit from the lab or your doctor, do it at home (maybe saliva sample) and send it in.
It sounds like you don't have a doctor familiar with your issues? You need to tell your doctor you want a complete thyroid panel. It's hard for me to fathom how the doctor who ordered your thyroid labs and saw abnormal RT3 did nothing to address that.